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On a heat-wavy late winter’s day, a farmer drives a tractor churning chopped wheat and barley into the earth, preparing the fields for yet another season. That land in southern San Benito County once hosted garlic. In just two months, it will have cannabis planted there and become one of the first in the county to do so.
Jordan Blancarte, whose family owns the property, watches from a nearby hill. Formerly a physicist who studied plasma and the magnetic field at the University of California, Berkeley, he switched paths in 2019 and now directs an organic cannabis and hemp farm on the Central Coast called Orso Farms. He spent his first years in the county growing hemp, a variety of cannabis without its main psychoactive compound, and is now growing cannabis for the first time.
“San Benito is a fantastic environment for cannabis to grow naturally,” Blancarte says. “We’ve got nice warm summers, which the plants love, and not as much moisture as some of the other counties have.”
Though San Benito County first allowed cannabis cultivation and sales in 2018, six years passed without a single legal farmer growing cannabis. Blancarte, county officials, and supervisors say this was the result of a cost-prohibitive tax structure that set an annual rate of $3 to $17 per square foot, one of the highest in California.
To address this, the Board of Supervisors approved, in late 2024, a tax exemption that runs through the end of 2026. But the supervisors’ bigger bet is Measure D, the only initiative county voters will decide on June 2, which aims to overhaul the tax structure to attract more growers.
If Measure D passes, the board will replace the current per-square-foot rate in the unincorporated county with a per-acre rate ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. The board would then set the exact rate within that range.
At a Feb. 24 meeting, Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki suggested a rate of $2,000 per acre had been discussed with industry stakeholders, which would give San Benito County one of the lowest cannabis cultivation tax rates in the state. Other cannabis businesses—such as distribution, manufacturing, laboratory testing, and retail—are taxed differently and would not be modified.
“The previous tax structure was not really set up for outdoor cultivation,” Blancarte says. “It was really set for indoor cultivation in mind. Outdoor cultivation is on a much larger scale, and the tax structure needs to understand the difference between indoor and outdoor cultivation. Square footage is not how farmers work.”
In the ballot argument in favor of the measure, the Board of Supervisors argues the new tax structure will attract more growers and increase county revenue to fund essential services.
“This new tax structure would collect much-needed revenue for county services like law enforcement, fire protection, road improvements, and other essential community needs,” reads the ballot argument signed by Board Chair Dom Zanger.
The measure has no known opponents, and no one has filed arguments against it. The only dissenting voice has been Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, who voted against placing the measure on the ballot. Though he supported lowering the tax rate, he said the proposed rates were too low and was worried they would not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of increased enforcement and that the county could end up subsidizing cannabis.
A fiscal analysis by County Auditor-Controller Joe Paul Gonzalez estimated that by 2028 the county could earn as much as $20 million with the new rates. Though he said the county may face higher administrative and regulatory costs, those are expected to be “partially or fully offset” by tax revenues and permitting fees. He also warned that the projections depend on market conditions that have proven volatile.
“The California cannabis market has experienced significant price volatility and competition among producing regions, which may affect the number of operators willing to establish cultivation operations in San Benito County,” Gonzalez wrote. “As a result, actual revenue may vary significantly from estimates.”
A local cannabis farm
Like any other businessperson, Blancarte closely monitors the policies affecting his sector across California. As counties have been lowering the tax rates they set after legalization in 2016, he saw the county’s 2025 exemption as an opening into a place where he had always wanted to grow. Since the exemption took effect, four growers have set down roots in the county, including Blancarte, and one more grow is pending approval.
With 30 full-time employees, Blancarte is currently preparing about 85 acres in south county to grow about 60 varieties of cannabis. Cannabis cultivation, whether indoor or outdoor, is permitted in agricultural and industrial areas of the county. It is not allowed in residential or rural zones; and in the airport district, it requires special approval.
Unlike indoor cultivation, outdoor cannabis is subject to the cycles of the earth, just like any other crop.
“We get only one shot,” Blancarte says. “Indoor cultivation can do multiple cycles per year. We have one season.”
During the winter, his crew planted wheat, barley, and other cover crops to enrich the soil with nutrients before the cannabis goes in. Meanwhile, Orso Farms grows its starter plants in nurseries in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
In June, when the seedlings reach about six inches tall, they will be transported to San Benito County and planted.
California has very strict rules for growing cannabis. Every plant must be individually tagged and tracked through a state system from the moment it is planted until it reaches the consumer. Growers must also keep security cameras running around the clock across their entire property.
Harvest comes in October. Orso Farms will bring in up to 400 seasonal workers to cut the plants and pack them into large freezers on site, where hundreds of pounds of cannabis are stored until they are sold to manufacturers who turn them into the products Californians can find at dispensaries.
Blancarte is considering planting about 100 more acres next year on other fields in his property, but that hope depends, among other things, on what voters decide on Measure D.
Cannabis, he argues, is a great opportunity for farmers in San Benito County. Unlike garlic, which requires rotation to prevent disease, cannabis can be grown on the same land and fits naturally into crop rotation cycles. That flexibility, he says, makes it an attractive option for farmland that might otherwise sit idle.
“There are less and less opportunities for farmers to keep their land active,” he says. “We’re seeing more farmland in this part of the county turn into other things than agriculture, like home developments. This is an opportunity for farmers to have a profitable crop.”
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